Michael K Williams has been cut from the Han Solo movie
Ron Howard's reshoots clash with The Wire star's other commitments
Michael K Williams will no longer feature in the Han Solo movie – because the reshoots clash with another film.
The actor, who’s also starred in The Wire and The Night Of, explained that the Han Solo film’s production schedule conflicted with spy drama The Red Sea Diving Resort – now shooting in South Africa with Ben Kingsley and Chris Evans.
Ron Howard, who took over the Han Solo movie from fired directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller in June, is directing the Solo reshoots.
"I felt great about what I created with the directors that I worked with,” Williams told Deadline . “It is what it is."
All we know about Williams’ character in the Star Wars spin-off is that he was half-human, half-animal. It is unclear whether his role will be recast or entirely cut from the film.
More like this
Despite the high-profile changes in staff, the as-yet-untitled movie is still slated for release in May 2018. Williams said it was this tight deadline, along with the film's change in direction, that left his character behind.
“When Ron Howard got hired to finish out the film, there were some reshoot issues that needed to be done in regards to my character, in order for it to match the new direction which the producers wanted Ron to carry the film in," he explained.
“And that would have required me on a plane a month ago to London, to Pinewood, to do reshoots. But I’m here, on location in Africa. It’s scheduling. I’m not going to be back on the market until the end of November after Hap and Leonard, and for them to wait that long for me, that would have pushed back the release date, which I believe is in May 2018."
“They wanted me now; I couldn’t go. So they had to clip-clip-clip.”
At the time of writing, the film will still star Alden Ehrenreich as the young smuggler, along with Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover and Thandie Newton.
